In the News

As Windows 10 approaches its first birthday, Microsoft is adding new features, giving its Cortana digital assistant more capabilities and offering people new ways to sign into websites and apps without passwords. Microsoft’s “Anniversary Update,” scheduled for release August 2, is free for anyone who already has Windows 10. Users of previous Windows versions must download the current version of Windows 10 by July 29 or pay $119 after that.

Eleven of the UK’s most disruptive high-technology startups graduated from Microsoft Accelerator London’s 14-week program. The GBP100m company line-up pitched to corporate investors, Microsoft Clients and VCs in a bid to secure Series A funding. Microsoft Accelerator program is a short cut to success as participants gain access to Microsoft’s global network, USD0.5m of cloud technology, and dedicated office space in London.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s debut book, ‘Hit Refresh’, will hit stores next year with the writer saying it is neither a ‘how-to-succeed’ book nor a memoir but about change. The book follows three storylines: Nadella’s personal journey of transformation, the change that is taking place today inside his storied technology company, and one that is coming in all of our lives as intelligent machines become more ambient and more ubiquitous throughout society. Nadella explores how people, organizations, and societies can and must transform in their persistent quest for new energy, new ideas, relevance and renewal.

Microsoft has unveiled a special edition Game of Thrones Xbox One. Though not for sale, users can still play it in the multiple contests. Six of these are up for grabs, for those who manage to win the challenges. Bonus points, the consoles also ship with the complete Blu-ray box set of Game of Thrones.

Ixia has announced that the company will include support for Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vNetwork Standard Switch (vSS) for its integrated cloud visibility platform, CloudLens. It can be used in scalable traffic monitoring system for private, public, and hybrid cloud deployments, including Ixia Virtualization Tap to access private cloud East/West traffic with Vision series of Network Packet Brokers.

Microsoft Corp., approaching the one-year anniversary of Windows 10, said the operating system is running on more than 350 million active devices. More than 96 percent of Microsoft’s Windows enterprise customers those who have older versions of Windows and a volume license to use them are already trying the new operating system, said Windows Marketing Chief Yusuf Mehdi.

MediaValet Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based digital asset management software, was selected by Microsoft as a finalist for two 2016 Canadian IMPACT Awards (“Modern Marketing Innovation Award” and “Winning Together Award”) and one global Partner of the Year Award (“Modern Marketing Partner of the Year”). MediaValet shared the ‘Winning Together Award’ nomination and finalist position with its partner, Orckestra Inc., from Montreal.

Leading enterprise event automation provider, Certain, announced its partnership with Microsoft to build an integrated event and marketing automation solution on Windows 10. Craig Dewar, Senior Director, Windows Marketing, Microsoft, said, “We’re excited to collaborate with innovative partners like Certain to make its enterprise event automation solution available on Windows 10, delivering an optimized experience for enterprise clients and their event attendees across all their devices.”

BitTitan, the leader in cloud services enablement, announced its platinum sponsorship at the 2016 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto, Canada. At the event, BitTitan will demo its comprehensive MSP cloud services enablement platform, MSP Complete, and lead a number of sessions to educate partners on how to open the door to new and recurring cloud revenues as modern managed service providers.

Intigua, the company that pioneered configuration management for software agents, has joined the Microsoft Enterprise Cloud Alliance. As part of the program, it has integrated Intigua Agent Manager, which monitors, controls and automates server tools, with Microsoft System Center and Microsoft Operations Management Suite. Jeremy Winter, Partner Director PM, Microsoft, said, “We welcome Intigua to the Microsoft Enterprise Cloud Alliance and we look forward to see their solution expanding the capabilities of Microsoft System Center and Operations Management Suite.”